Lakes at Marshall Ridge HOA v. Town of Westlake (Circle T Data Center Notice-Defect TRO)
Judge Kimberly Fitzpatrick of the 342nd District Court signed a temporary restraining order barring the Town of Westlake, Texas from voting on or implementing Resolution 26-25, a development agreement for the 1.1-million-square-foot Circle T Data Center, after the Lakes at Marshall Ridge Homeowners Association and residents Linda Bjorn and Sharon Sanden sued alleging the town failed to give legally required public notice of the zoning action. The complaint also alleges the site plan omits a setback and landscaped buffer required between the data center and adjacent homes. The TRO has been extended, with a temporary-injunction hearing set on or before September 8, 2026.
Why it matters
Shows how a narrow procedural notice defect, not a challenge to the underlying commercial/industrial zoning itself, can freeze a large-scale development agreement even where the disputed use has been permitted on the site since 1998. Developers of data centers and other high-impact projects near residential neighborhoods should treat statutory notice and buffer/setback compliance as a hard precondition to a council vote, since neighboring property owners with standing have shown they will scrutinize that process and obtain emergency relief on a colorably pled gap in it.
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